


Dawn after the Long Night

by Feanoriel



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Introspection, Kissing, Light Angst, Romance, Sailing, Second Age, UST, nothing too dramatic, other characters named or implied - Freeform, some kind of fluff, some speculations about war and similar stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-27 03:14:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20941358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feanoriel/pseuds/Feanoriel
Summary: In which Elrond and Celebrían share their first kiss.





	Dawn after the Long Night

**Author's Note:**

> Note: this is the most saccharine and tooth-rooting thing I’ve ever written in a while, so beware. Also: this fic is part of my inner canon in which the movies don’t exist, so Elrond is young and hot as hell because sup it Peter Jackson. (not saying that someone couldn’t find Hugo Weaving hot or that he’s ugly, just … he’s not my Elrond. I always imagine him very different, since the very first time I read LotR, uhm). 
> 
> This chapter had been beta-read by @ **bunn**, thank you very much!

A song to the wind, an ode to the sea  
Chanting snowdrops of soul  
Allow me please to be nearer to thee  
I'm heading towards the shores.  
[Elvenking- Towards the shores]

*

Elrond cast a glance to Celebrían, whose gaze was lost into the horizon of the sea, even if her hands were firmly on the rope controlling the sail. They were alone together on a small boat, the same kind that Círdan’s mariners used to fish along the shores of Lindon, he at the tiller, she carefully sitting on the opposite side of the boat to balance it, the jib-sheet of the boat in her hands .

The sea was calm, the waves were quiet and small, and a gentle breeze blew over the sea, strong enough to fill their sails without making the motion of the boat choppy. The sun shone high above their heads, the clouds too few and too small to cover it properly.

They were sailing near the coast of Lindon with its high white cliffs and wooded promontories, the mountain realm of Gil-galad that abruptly broke off at the sea, where pine forests made way for beaches of golden sands. Elrond heard the cries of the seagulls and petrels far above his head, and for a moment, he was carried far away, once again a little child playing with his twin on the beach.

He took a deep breath, inhaling the smell of salt. It had been Celebrían’s idea to ask Círdan to borrow one of his little boats for a trip, and Elrond had at first been reluctant. He had no time for pleasure trips, he had said, not when he was the lieutenant of the High King, and had so many duties that demanded his attention. He had left Imladris specifically because Gil-galad needed him in Lindon, after all.

But he had not dared to repeat those words in front of Celebrían, for he had no wish to see her lovely blue eyes filled with disappointment. And then, it was Gil-galad who had insisted he go with her.

“You know how much I trust and rely on you, Elrond,” the High King had said. “And I’m glad you are concerned about the business of the realm, but trust me that my kingship will not fall if you take a day for a little pleasure trip.”

Now, Elrond finally turned, risking a glance at Celebrían. He had admired the beauty of Gil-galad’s kingdom, but not even the breathtaking cliffs and forests of Lindon could hope to outshine the beauty of Celebrían. 

She was sitting in the middle of the boat with her back straight, a rope in her hand, carefully keeping the sail full of wind, her silver hair dishevelled by the breeze., Her blue eyes almost shone,and there was a mischievous smile on her soft lips. Elrond glanced at her, and for a moment, he could not help but wonder how it would be to kiss those full lips, and taste the salt of the sea on them. 

He chased the thought away quickly. _She will no doubt have plenty of suitors,_ he said to himself. 

In hopes of stopping the traitorous flow of his thoughts, he turned towards her and asked: “Is all well, my lady? Have you all you wish for our little journey?”

“Right now, I’m fine. You’re such a good sailor,” she said. It was the first time she had spoken since they left the shore. “Was it Círdan who taught you, or is it the blood of Eärendil in your veins that makes you so skilled?”

Elrond could only chuckle. He was merely passable as a sailor, and he had simply let the wind do most of the job, merely keeping the boat running downwind. “It was Círdan who taught me the rudiments of sailing, but you praise my skills too highly, my lady. I’m a passable sailor, and I might have the blood of Eärendil, but it seems that I have very little in common with him. It was Elros, not me, who shared our father’s love for sea and ships, and so his descendants. The sea is very lovely today, but I must admit that I never shared their passion for sailing.”

It was a long time since he had talked about Elros, and for a moment, his heart sank a little in his chest. Elros had truly the heart of Eärendil in him, not just for his love for the sea, but also for his love for Men, the love that had made him choose a mortal life above the promise of immortality. Elrond had always wondered which one of them had made the right choice, but no matter how wise people said he was, now, he had never been able to figure out that. 

“I’ve lived for a long time in Edhellos, I think I can recognize a good sailor” Celebrían replied, shaking her head. The sunlight coloured her silver hair with gold for a moment. 

“Surely, my lady” he could do nothing but smile, and suddenly, an idea came to him. “What if we drop the anchor? The coast is so lovely here, and we could---” he stopped himself, before proposing to her to swim with him. He hadn’t thought about the _implications_, and the mere idea of bathing with her, both of them naked … 

He firmly gripped the tiller, until the thought was gone. Elrond had quickly learned in his youth that Elves hadn’t the same concept of modesty as Men, but all the same, he doubted that he could bear the view of Celebrían naked without embarrassing himself by blushing like a kid at his first crush. 

And in the name of all the Valar, he _didn’t_ need more material for his dreams about her. 

He had lost count of all the times he had wakened his bed, in his private rooms in Imladris as well as his room in Lindon’s court, covered in sweat and with his pants suddenly become _too tight_, his body yearning for _someone_ that wasn’t there, lying beside him. He could do nothing but plunge his head into the pillow, his mind full of visions of silver hair and blue eyes, of soft lips parted in desire, that cried his name … 

“What a good idea” she replied, interrupting once again his thoughts before they could get too dangerous. Celebrían smiled, and she was so _radiant_, that Elrond could do nothing but think for the millionth time that he couldn’t love anyone but her, only her, in his whole life. He had never felt like that about anyone else.

Elrond’s life had always been a solitary one, after Elros had sailed for Númenor, building his life and a new dynasty. Gil-galad, Glorfindel and Erestor were his friends, aye, but Elrond was used to spending most of his time alone, between his books and his healing studies. Before meeting Celebrían, he had never thought of taking a wife, never thought of sharing his life with someone.

Sometimes, in the lonely, dark hours of the night, he wondered if there wasn’t something broken in him, something that had just broken up after that he had lost his parents, Maedhros and Maglor, and then even his brother, the other half of his soul. Maybe, deep in his heart there was still the little trembling child that desperately called for his mother in front of a cold, uncaring sea, with his twin’s hand as his only comfort, meanwhile, all around them, the world burned. And if it was so, what he could offer to Celebrían? The love of a broken man, someone that would constantly fear to love her, for the fear of losing her, or of letting her alone forever? 

He couldn’t do that to her. Especially not now, with Sauron plotting something buried in his rotten land, his shadow slowly expanding again on Middle Earth. The war against the Dark Lord wasn’t yet finished, and Elrond knew too well that he, once or later, would return to the battlefield to fight against Sauron’s army. For all he knew, he would end up in Mandos one day. How he could condemn the woman he loved to see him dying, slaughtered by Sauron’s soldiers? 

“I admit I came here hoping to go swimming” she said. Elrond was hastily shaken by the sound of her voice, for he was once again lost in his thoughts, but Celebrían didn’t seem to mind it, and smiled to him, and for a moment, there was no war and no sorrow, only her smile, that shone even more than the Sun itself. 

He smiled back, almost without thinking. Then he was serious again. Swimming with her seemed too much, too fast. 

He took a deep breath, trying to think about different activities that could be done near the sea without stripping naked, but no idea come at him. But before he was trying to find a poor excuse, her voice interrupted him: “Is all well Elrond? Don’t you like the idea of swimming?” her voice was hesitant, now, as if she feared having somehow offended him.

“No, swimming is fine. It’s only …” he looked straight in her eyes, hoping of not blushing. “For the Elves it is different, but … among Men, it’s considered scandalous that a man and a woman who aren’t married or related should swim together, _naked_” Only years and years of dealing with politics stopped him from blushing in pronouncing such a word.

Celebrían looked astounded for a moment, then burst into a laughter: “In the name of the Valar, are you _serious_?” the words came divided from her mouth, for she was laughing too much for speaking in a plain manner. “You’re not joking?”

“I’m serious” Elrond smiled a little, embarrassed smile. “Men find it quite … _shameful_.”

When she heard his voice, she immediately stopped laughing. “Oh,” she said. “I’m … I’m sorry, I mean no offense to you and your Mannish ancestry. It’s only …” she moved her hand. “It’s so _strange_! I don’t understand that.” she moved her head. “Being embarrassed by the body Eru gave to you! That’s such an … alien concept, for me. Me and my friends used to swim a lot, when we were in Eregion.” she sighed, a long sigh full of longing. 

“You’re right, nobody should be ashamed of the body Eru gave to them.” _But I will be ashamed of my own, if I can’t control the reaction of my body to merely seeing yours_, he thought. “But I fear that the situation is a little more complex. Men fear the lust that run in the vein of their youths, and think that not all men are able to … control their impulses. It’s to protect the girls that they established such norms. If human men were able to control themselves, instead of acting like animals, nothing shameful would come from simply two friends that enjoyed each other’s company.”

“Oh,” Celebrían was serious, now. “I don’t know that. I’ve no clue that Men could be … like this. I admit I know so little about them, all I know it’s thanks to old tales, and too few meetings. The Men who live near Edhellos are too scared of the Elves for coming near to us, and the Númenóreans didn’t pay us a visit since centuries. It’s a whole world I know nothing of.” she sighed again, her gaze lost towards west, as if she could see the Land of the Gift in the distance.

“There’s always time to learn.” Elrond said quickly. “When I first came to Gil-galad’s court, I knew nothing of Elves who weren’t Fëanorians. It’s not shameful to learn something new, but rather an enrichment. There is so much in this world to learn, than not even we with our immortal lives will be able to grasp it all completely.” He smiled to her. “You don’t have to worry. And about what I said to you, some Men are like that, aye, but some Men are like my kinsman Tuor, or like my twin, that would never do such things to a young maiden.”

She laughed, and gently touched his shoulder. “I know that my virtue is safe with you, you think that I don’t trust you? Come on!” she smiled, this time more mischievously. “But even so, we are perfectly in tune with your Mannish traditions: after all, we are both descendants of Finwë!”

Elrond merely smiled again, and muttered something about dropping the anchor, giving swiftly her his shoulder, so that she couldn’t see him blush. But it was with a lighter heart that, then, he took the rope of the anchor and let it drop into the deep blue water, paying out the rope carefully until the anchor reached the bottom of the sea. 

“Well” Elrond turned back to Celebrían, trying to change argument. “What would you like to do now?”

Celebrían didn’t reply. She simply bent towards him, a smile on her lips. Elrond could see how her eyes shone, bluer than the sea around them. She was surrounded by light, like she was one of the Valar.

He was going to say something, but any word he might have said was lost when Celebrían pressed her lips on his own. 

***

Celebrian was hesitant at first, not sure of how Elrond would respond to her kiss. He could have broken their kiss in any moment, but he didn’t, giving instead a shy reply, and let her tongue slide into his mouth.

Celebrían tasted the salt on his warm, soft lips, and his tongue met hers, sending shivers down on her spine. How many times she had dreamed this moment, the moment in which she finally would kiss him? Too many to recall.

She embraced him, running her hands down on his muscled back, through his silk-like black hair. He held her carefully, like she was made of glass and he feared to break her if he pressed too hard against her. 

They broke their kiss just for breathing. Elrond looked astonished, like he had lost all his words. 

“Is all well?” she asked. When he firstly didn’t reply, she quickly added: “Did I do something wrong?”

Elrond let out a long, ragged laugh: “Something wrong? Oh, no, absolutely no! I’m just … a little overwhelmed. I wasn’t expecting this.”

“So do you like it?”

“Y-yes” Elrond smiled at her. She couldn’t avoid to think that she would have never believed it, if someone had told her that: that she had been able to make Elrond the silver-tongue mumble, he that was so skilled in singing and in composing lectures.

“Oh, thanks to Varda!” she said. It was her turn to laugh now. “Elrond, you made a face!”

She wanted to take him for his shoulders and shake him, and then kiss him again. She had kissed a lot of boys in her life, both in the woods of Eregion and in the shores of Edhellos, but she hadn’t liked any of them the way she liked Elrond. 

Celebrían had always liked Elrond. She liked the gentle touch of his hands, the quiet way he spoke, his silver voice singing marvellous tunes during the feasts at the court of Gil-galad. She liked his kind smile, and his deep, grey eyes, and she even liked the melancholy under those eyes, that was always there, even if he managed to hide it well, like a rock under the sea. 

She often dreamed of him, of him running after her like Beren had once run after Lúthien in the woods of Doriath. She had dreamed of his voice calling her name, of her hands grasping her dress, her arms - gently, but firmly at the same time - finally catching her. She dreamed of rolling into the grass with him, his arms encircling her, his silk-like hair falling around her like a black curtain. And then, their lips met, and his hands searched for her skin …

Celebrían couldn’t deny how much she _wanted_ him, how much her body starved for his touch, as well as her soul. And how she couldn’t be? Elrond was _breathtaking_, the beauty and the grace of the Elves mixed with the fierceness and the passion of mortal Men. But from his side, Elrond was always so courteous with her -maybe too much - to the point that he didn’t dare to touch her hands more than necessary.

“Why did you do that?” Elrond asked. He was blushing, and Celebrían could not help feeling amused. She had never seen Elrond, the High Lord of Rivendell, Herald of King Gil-galad, behaving like so, like a boy with his first crush. 

“Because I like you, of course” it was her turn to blush, now. She had long thought about confessing him her own feelings for him, but now that the time had come, she felt her words fading away. “Don’t you like me, too?”

“Liking you?” Elrond let out a low laugh. “Celebrían, I _love_ you. I love you since the first moment I ever saw you in Rivendell, on the banks of the Bruinen. I remember that moment like it was yesterday. You were like Nessa the Dancer, with your bare feet, with flowers and leaves entwined in your long, silver hair, swift and graceful as a young doe. I remember the way you laughed, the way you play with your hair, and when our eyes met, I know that I couldn’t love everyone but you.”

Celebrían closed her eyes, flattered. She could hardly believe it. Elrond, who she had dreamed and yearned for so long, saying such things to her. She remembered their first meeting too, but she would have never believed that Elrond had come to love her in that very morning. She remembered how she had felt; _embarrassed_ when Elrond had appeared in front of her, so tall and majestic and proud-looking, after that she had spent all her morning in climbing the trees, her feet and her dress stained green. What he could have thought of her, seeing her in such a state? He surely had to consider her a child, nothing more than a little girl that spent all her time playing and laughing with no thought of the world.

Oh, how wrong she had been. 

Celebrían moved towards him. “Elrond” she said, hoping that her voice wouldn’t betray her. “I love you too.”

How much time had passed, before she realized it? She had been so childish in not seeing the truth in front of her. Elrond had always been here for her, laughing with her when she was happy, offering his advice when she was in trouble, and consoling her when she was sad. He had always supported her, and she knew that he appreciated her for who she truly was, and not just because she was the daughter of Galadriel and Celeborn.

He never made her feel uncomfortable, not even when she embarrassed herself with thoughtless words, and he was always so kind, so careful, so courteous towards her, that his only presence always made her feel better.

And despite so, she had been so blind about her own feelings for so long. 

Elrond shook his head. “I’m a fool” he said, and laughed. “All the time I spent believing that you would never love me back, that my feelings for you are hopeless … Eru, I was so blind.”

Celebrían extended her hand, and spread the palm on Elrond’s chest, feeling the warmth of his skin under her fingers. “Why didn’t you tell me, Elrond?”

She asked herself what would have happened, if Elrond had told her. Would she have realized her feelings for him earlier? Or would have she refused him, not feeling ready for such a responsibility?

“It’s … complicated.” Elrond took her hand, and placed a gentle kiss on her palm. Celebrían felt her cheeks get warm. “Celebrían, I don’t want to give you false hope. I dreamed of the future, but it’s a future that I fear. I saw the darkness spreading across the lands, covering the green hills and the fair woods under a creeping shadow. Celebrían… I love you, but what will become of us? The war with Sauron isn’t over. And dark things are happening in Númenor. The descendants of my brother have begun to openly speak against the Valar. I wonder what will become of them. And if our most powerful allies abandon us in the war against Sauron, what kind of future will we have? I… I fear that one day I will be nothing but a whisper in Mandos’s Halls, and that you would grieve my loss, and everything we couldn’t have. And I don’t want it for you, for us.”

Celebrían thought about her mother, about the sadness in her eyes any time she talked about her family, the way she embraced her when she was little, any time Celebrían had accidently hurt herself while playing, like she wanted to assure herself that everything was right. How would it be to lose all your family, all the people you loved? 

Celebrían didn’t even dare to imagine it. She had lived through the War of the Ring, had heard of the cruel death of Celebrimbor, had seen the sacking of Eregion, had lost friends with she had played once. And then, it was nothing compared to what her mother had survived to, to what _Elrond_ had survived too. 

And it wasn’t over. Sauron was slowly preparing himself in his dusty land, and one day he would come for them all, bringing shadow and ruin and armies of Orcs over the Elven lands, over everything they loved. And she knew too well that Elrond would be in the first line of Gil-galad’s armies, for defending and protecting everything he loved. To defend and protect _her_, too. 

If only she had realized that she loved him much, much earlier. At least, they would have tasted for some time a little happiness together. They had been friends for long years, but they never had the possibility of being lovers. 

She wanted so much to kiss him again, to caress those silk-like hair, to pull him against her, to feel the heat of her body against her own. She wanted so much to recover the time they’d lost for all those years, all the kisses and the caresses they’d missed. And no moment seemed more perfect that this very moment, in the middle of the sea, with the sun that shone over them and a gentle breeze that entwined their hair … 

But instead, she replied: “You’re right, Elrond. War isn’t over. And who knows where we will be tomorrow.” she took his other hand, entwining their fingers together. “But don’t ask me to renounce to you, because I won’t do that.”

“I will not” replied Elrond, and he smiled, a smile that illuminated for a moment his beautiful face, making his grey eyes shine like silver. “But it’s impossible for me to not to worry about us, about our future. Of what my foresight permits me to see, I see only darkness.”

Celebrían touched his cheek, tenderly: “Aye, you worry about our future. You’re right in doing that. But Elrond … we don’t know where we will be tomorrow, but right now, we’re here, and you love me, and I love you, and nothing will change that, not even if Sauron comes to the door of Gil-galad in this very moment. I don’t care about the future, if right now you’re with me. You said that a long night awaits us, but even the Long Night of Morgoth, when the Trees of Valinor were destroyed, ended when the Valar created the Sun and the Moon. This night will end, too. The sun will shine on us again.”

Elrond laughed. “What I would do without you, my dear?” he asked, and pressed his forehead against hers. Silk-like raven hair caressed her cheek for a moment. 

“I don’t know” she smiled to him of a mischievous smile. “Better for you that I came to you, or I can’t imagine what would you do, my dear high lord, deprived of my wise advice!”

Elrond laughed again and, this time, it was he who kissed her.


End file.
